Catholic University of America law school receives $1.4 million in gifts

The Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America
in Washington recently received gifts and commitments totaling $1.4 million
that will provide initial funding for three new initiatives supporting research
and educational opportunities for faculty and students.

The three initiatives include programs in compliance,
investigations and corporate responsibility; a center for religious liberty;
and a pilot program in criminal justice.

“We are very appreciative of the support we have received for
these programs,” said Daniel F. Attridge, law school dean. “We’ve selected
three initiatives that we think are very consistent with our strengths — our
location here in Washington, D.C., our mission as part of The Catholic
University of America, and the expertise of our faculty.”

Among the new initiatives is an enhanced program in compliance,
investigations and corporate responsibility that was conceived by professor
Sarah Duggin. This program, which is expected to launch in spring 2018, will be
a direct response to a growing business demand. In recent years, the field of
compliance has become critical in the business world.

According to numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there
are currently 257,000 compliance positions in the United States, with more
growth expected in the coming years. This area of expansion for the law school
will include enhanced curricular offerings, allowing students to gain
much-needed experience and expertise in this expanding field.

“As Pope Francis has said, business, finance, the economy — work
in these areas truly is a vocation. And it becomes a noble vocation when
leaders in this field think about the moral and ethical aspects of what they do
and embrace a culture of corporate integrity,” said Duggin. “Our overall goal
is to create a center of national excellence where we can help provide the
academic background for new thinking in compliance and corporate responsibility
from a legal perspective.”

The second initiative will be the creation of a center for
religious liberty led by professor Mark Rienzi. Already known as a stalwart in
the defense of religious liberty and freedom of expression through his work
with the Becket Fund, Rienzi has represented clients in some of the most
high-profile cases related to the freedom of religious expression. This center
will build upon the Catholic Church’s fundamental belief in religious freedom
for all people, while attracting high-caliber legal scholars to the school and
expanding the body of research available.

“The goal of the program of religious liberty is really to
present an authentic Catholic voice talking about the importance of religious
liberty,” Rienzi said. “Creating a center where we’ll build up scholarship
about the importance of religious liberty and making sure the government leaves
room for religious freedom and diversity is a really important thing to do at
this time.”

The final initiative to be funded is the criminal justice pilot
program, which will be led by professor Cara Drinan beginning in fall 2018. It
is designed to document the lack of effective representation for poor criminal
defendants in the United States.

“Not only does this project afford the law school a chance to
serve the most vulnerable members of society, but it addresses on a larger
scale the church’s call for us to exercise a preferential option for the poor
and to meet the needs of those who have been marginalized,” said Drinan.